2019: Group accuses American of plans to meddle in Nigerian Presidential election

By Kunle Ilyasu

Save Nigeria Network, a civil society organsiation has raised the alarm
over the engagement of a foreign lobbyist firm to manipulate results of the
forthcoming 2019 polls to ensure regime change in Nigeria.
In particular, the group accused the presidential candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of hiring the American agents
to manipulate results of the 2019 general elections, in disguise of working
for his campaign.
Report emerged last week that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had hired
the firm of Brian Ballard, a top US lobbyist, ahead of the 2019 elections.
However, the Network's Convener Pro-Tempo, Dr. Abraham Abayomi, who raised
the alarm, said the decision to hire the American firm to meddle in
Nigeria’s election showed a troubling pattern that Atiku has no interest in
running the country for Nigerians.
In a statement forwarded to our reporter yesterday, Abayomi warned
Nigerians to be wary of the kind of foreign interference that the
Atiku/Ballard marriage will produce.
He said, “We are saddened that the PDP and Atiku’s loyalist are hailing the
$90 thousand Dollars or N31.5 million per month hire as the next best thing
after the creation of mankind when they should reasonably be crying for
being out of touch with reality.
“Only wickedness marinated in ignorance should make anyone see such
betrayal of one’s nation as worthy of celebration. The hire is wrong on
many level.
“We must also point out that if Trump is Ballard’s product then it follows
that part of his strategy is to promote divisiveness – the United States
has turned out fractured and the fault lines are becoming more pronounced
with each successive day of the Trump Presidency but the seeds of discord
were sown during the electioneering.
“Ballard as Trump’s lobbyist is not a voter anywhere in Nigeria and
whatever role he has been invited to play is suspicious and can only be
targeted at a regime change that seeks to invalidate the sanctity of the
ballot by getting third party countries to influence the process. It is a
danger that must be immediately confronted so that we will not be lamenting
in retrospect like the Americans are doing after Ballard completed his
assignment there." End